Today’s installment’s quote is attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, and as you may predict from the last time I used a quote involving cards, we’ll be heading back to the Outrealms this time. But to begin with, we saved right before a time skip last time. So, let’s see if Chrom turned out to be a just and fair ruler that would make Emmeryn proud…
The next scene begins in the castle at Ylisstol, as Chrom and Frederick get a message from Regna Ferox. It turns out to be delivered by Raimi, Flavia’s knight that was the boss of Chapter 3. Apparently, Flavia’s requesting Chrom’s presence at a summit ASAP, as the leader of the land of Valm (on a continent to the west of where we’ve been fighting thus far) is acting uppity. The ‘Conqueror’ has already launched warships, and is certain to invade soon. Chrom realizes how bad this can be, and tells Raimi to relay that he’ll meet with Flavia at once.
Raimi leaves, and Sully enters. Chrom attempts to tell her that he needs to go and repay debts, but Sully calls out his pigheadedness and states that she wants to come along with him. Chrom objects, as they’ve recently had a child, a baby girl named Lucina with the Mark of Naga in her left eye. But Sully states that the child can be wet-nursed, as Chrom and Lissa were when they were infants, and wants to be as strong an example for her as her father is. Lissa comes into the scene and reminds Chrom how he’s never won an argument with Sully before, which her big bro doesn’t really appreciate. Chrom at least makes sure Sully promises to stay out of needless danger, having lost his own parents early on and relying on Emmeryn as a guiding figure. Sully agrees, after reminding Chrom not to get hurt either.
Frederick plans to gather an escort, and Yukari pops in, glad that Chrom’s become a fine ruler. There are some ways in which Chrom hasn’t changed, but he has grown as a leader, and a father, trying his best to live up to his sister’s legacy. We then watch Chrom and Yukari move across the map to Castle Ferox, where they meet with Flavia. They ask for further details about Valm, so Flavia calls for Basilio, who then calls for someone we’re already well-acquainted with: Virion! He’s also brought along a mysterious companion, and while Virion tries to make the reveal as magnificent as possible, things are quickly spoiled by his female guest: Virion is actually a Duke, and she is his humble servant Cherche.
Chrom asks Cherche to do most of the debriefing, as time is too important to waste on dramatic flair. She explains that Virion is the rightful ruler of Rosanne, which is part of the continent of Valm. When Chrom asks why they left their continent, Virion states that the Valmese people used to have a pitifully tiny nation, to the point that they could’ve been forgotten completely if they didn’t share their name with the continent. But then Walhart the Conqueror came into the picture, and quickly conquered territory, to the point where Virion had to flee the land and recruit new allies to help liberate his people. Chrom correctly guesses that Virion originally just fled for his life, and Cherche tells of how he did guide his people to safety before he left and Rosanne was conquered. Cherche herself stayed in Valm to keep an eye on how things developed, and only recently had to flee and seek asylum in Regna Ferox.
Cherche decides to cut to the chase, and say that Walhart’s conquered the entire continent, and seeks Chrom’s next. Chrom believes Cherche and Virion, and asks Basilio to help secure the ports before Walhart’s warships arrive. Virion mentions how Valmese troops will consist of very strong calvary, and ends up once more lending the Shepherds his aid.
We then return to the world map, and see that the only Support gained in that last battle was Chrom & Sully (S-Rank). Now, as they got married as a part of the plot, we can’t see their S-Rank conversation unless you go to the Log section of the Extras menu…or, alternatively, just look it up on Youtube. I sell the Large Bullion I got last map and pick up some new things, such as a Bronze Bow for Gaius to use, and some Brave weapons from someone I’d StreetPassed with. Now, we haven’t officially recruited Cherche yet, and whatever foes await us at Paralogue 3 haven’t burnt the place to the ground in the past two years, but there’s one thing that I’d personally like to wrap up first: the third and final Champions of Yore DLC battle! Let’s fight some legends, and get a new Skill for our troubles!
XENOLOGUE: CHAMPIONS OF YORE 3
The first time we were in Old Hubba’s corner of the Outrealm, it was day; in Yore 2, it was the afternoon. We now arrive on the island at night, and Chrom predicts exactly when Old Hubba charges in. Apparently, we’re surrounded, and without a single Einherjar card is left to defend us. Old Hubba starts asking for his former wife to make room for him in heaven, when Chrom asks what happened to the cards we’d gotten for him before. Apparently, the Outrealm Aversa tricked Hubba again, begging for forgiveness and…smelling like roses. Chrom doesn’t want to hear any more (and I don’t blame him), and that’s when Outrealm Aversa pops in, glad that she can get revenge on the group of fools.
Chrom: Your phantoms haven’t a ghost of a chance, Aversa.
Outrealm Aversa calls us clever, and then summons twenty heroes for us to fight. Looking at the map, we’re starting at the center of the familiar battlefield, with our enemies approaching from both sides. The main male and girl from every previous Fire Emblem game, from Prince Marth and Caeda to Micaiah and Sothe, with Ike and his Ragnell being the main boss of this group. Our opponents range from Level 10 to Level 15, and we have no suicidal allies with us. So, this should hopefully go well for us!
...Well, actually, it went really, really badly for me at first. But thankfully, in Casual Mode, you can save in the middle of battles, and I eventually made enough right moves to record the really long summary you see below.
- Chrom, Gaius, Gregor, Lon’qu, Olivia, Panne: Covered the left side of the map.
- Turn 1: Chrom and Hubba briefly talk about Ike at the battle’s start, with Hubba stating that Ike’s his favourite card, and Chrom liking the guy’s blue hair. Olivia danced for Gregor to put him closer to the enemy’s forces; after losing on the first turn of the battle quite a few times, I decided to have Lon’qu end up on a Fortress, pass Gregor down to the spot south of him, have the pair of Gaius and Chrom cover the north space, and then have Panne behind them to potentially soak up a magic attack. On the enemy’s first turn, Micaiah takes a moment to ask herself if she’s fighting the right enemy. Gregor had a conversation with Lyn when she attacked, about not being a bad man, but Lyn says that only the truly guilty are so eager to plead innocence. He and Lon’qu kill her when she counters, and then Gregor dodges an Elfire. The mercenary also gets hit by Roy, and while he doesn’t die when Gregor hits, at least it means no other close-ranged enemy can get a shot in during the first turn. Gaius dodges Cecilia’s two magic strikes, as well as Elincias spear, though the latter wouldn’t have really done much.
- Turn 2: I’m still incredibly defensive, having Chrom use a rapier to remove Elincia before she has a chance to reach the dancer instead of a more front-line concern. Lon’qu moved a space north of the western fort to stop any foot soldiers from passing on to Olivia, and extremely fortunately, kills Celica in one hit with a Killing Edge while there. Panne heads onto the now-vacant fort, and while she can’t kill the extremely close and powerful Lilina in one hit, Gregor Pairs Up before it’s a concern (though I would’ve refreshed her with Olivia if an extra attack was needed). With major concerns alleviated, I had Gregor heal with a Vulnerary, Olivia refresh him, and then Gregor finished off Roy. Lon’qu counters Alm during the enemy phase, and Gregor hits Eliwood after getting hit himself.
- Turn 3: Gaius finishes off Alm with a critical, while Lon’qu heads down to finish off Eliwood, and Panne assisted with the kill while she was there. Looking at my options, I decide that my best chances of survival involve Olivia refreshing Gaius to deal with Sothe (which he does with a bow from the fort), while Gregor and Panne attack Micaiah from two different sides before she can hurt our dancer or any injured units.
- Turn 4: With all enemies on the western side now deceased, save for the immobile boss, the gang takes time to grab a Physic staff from the village and get some extra dancing experience.
- Turn 5: While Panne gets needless weapon proficiency from a sparkly spot, we defeat the blue-haired legend by attacking first with Gregor & Lon’qu, then having Olivia refresh them for experience (and, if you couldn’t tell by her past targets, to better her relationship with Gregor quickly), having Gregor attack again (thank goodness he dodged Ike both times), and then letting Chrom get the final blow with a Glass Sword.
- Yukari, Maribelle, Kellam, Tharja, Sully, Miriel: Covered the right side of the map.
- Turn 1: There wasn’t a fort in enemy territory, so Tharja and her Paired Up knight hid out in a forest out of reach from Seliph the swordsman, and the others formed a defensive line south. Caeda came at Sully with a Beastkiller that could’ve hurt her horse, but the recent mother dodged both of her attacks. Yukari then countered Seliph’s blade with a critical Wind spell. Tharja thankfully dodged the Book of Naga that Julia wielded, and then Miriel protected Sully from Prince Marth before they almost killed him together…though Nanna heals him before that action is over.
- Turn 2: Miriel knocked Caeda out of the sky with her own copy of Celica’s Gale, while Yukari defeated Julia with a Bronze Sword (and unnecessary Ignis boost), and Tharja’s Nosferatu ended the reign of Prince Marth…after a special bit of dialogue where she wonders if she should curse Marth into making chicken noises. Leif attempts to hurt Miriel when the enemy’s turn comes around, but accomplishes nothing before getting magic’d in the face.
- Turn 3: This turn involves Miriel defeating Sigurd with Elwind, Yukari killing Eirika with a Thoron traded to her by Miriel, and Kellam doing very light damage to Ephraim with a Javelin right before Tharja used the miracle of Pair Up to Nosferatu the guy. Ephraim then successfully attacked (and immediately after died to) Miriel and her Elwind tome, while Deirdre took the Kellam bait and attacked him with her Ruin tome.
- Turn 4: Miriel used another double-cast of Elwind to defeat the healer Nanna, Tharja defeated Deirdre with a double-cast of Elthunder, and Maribelle visited a village to get an Elfire tome (yay for convenient trios).
- Turn 5: With everything else wrapped up (save for the other team killing Ike), Maribelle gets a bit of healing experience, while Kellam and Tharja get a Rift Door from a sparkly spot.
- Turns: 5
- Heroes: Not listed, but I’m very proud of how frequently Gregor dodged in my winning play through, especially considering how many time I’ve lost this fight in the very first turn from a bad hit.
Hubba’s ecstatic that we won, especially since we regained all 20 of his cards in the process. He gives us a tome as promised, but as Chrom’s about to leave, Hubba has yet another ‘vision’. If we were to abandon the Outrealms now that we have our gift, death will be everywhere! There are other locations with Einherjar, but without someone like Old Hubba to revert them back to cards and keep things peaceful. They’ve taken on lives of their own, and have started great wars! And, while Chrom has his own war to fight, Old Hubba says that participating in these other battles will help us, with gold, experience, legendary weapons and heroes…basically, as Chrom alludes to, it’s basically a sales pitch for buying the rest of the DLC packs. Chrom does relent, even if other Outrealms may involve tougher challenges, and Hubba offers to help by sealing some of the Einherjar for us after we defeat them. He also says he’ll offer advice, like how Einherjar will believe that they’re the actual heroes they represent in their own worlds…which Chrom decides isn’t really useful news, outside of trying a diplomatic approach. At least Hubba has one last reward for us, for the time being: the Micaiah card! And so, after a brief chat with the Einherjar, we recruit the Radiant Dawn heroine to our side…oh, and also, that book he gave us? If used on a unit, it gives them a skill that boosts all the fighting stats by 2 when equipped.
Back in Chrom’s regular world, I check out the Barracks for a couple of little boosts, participate in a very quick Risen battle, and then view the following Support conversations:
- Sully & Miriel (A-Rank)
- Kellam & Tharja (A-Rank)
- Gregor & Panne (C-Rank)
- Yukari & Maribelle (C-Rank)
I really didn’t expect that mission to be difficult to complete until I actually attempted it…guess I forgot that everyone would be carrying the weapons that are connected to them, like Celice’s Gale and Roy’s Blade. But I got through it eventually, and I doubt that I’ll ever return, even for more books of +2 to everything! Next time…well, it’s either going to be Paralogue 3, Chapter 12, or an easier DLC mission. Which will it be? Remember that your comments will greatly influence my decisions, but I’m fine making my own decisions if nobody speaks up. Anyways, you’ve been a great audience! Stay well!
